The present invention relates to a shield for use during operations involving the coring or cutting of concrete or other materials. More particularly. the present invention relates to a shield for use in preventing the concrete cuttings from being thrown about during concrete cutting operations. One of the cutting operations that may be done is to cut or drill a hole in a slab. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,032 describes an apparatus and method for sampling the soil under a strata. As described in that patent, the first step in that method is to cut or drill a hole in a concrete slab. The hole is drilled with any of several commercially available concrete coring machines.
During this coring, operation, dust and small bits of concrete are cut and/or broken off from the strata and flung about by the coring bit. It is therefore desired for the protection of persons and property to prevent the small cuttings of concrete and dust from being thrown about. Further, sometimes water is used to cool the bit as it cuts such that the small bits of concrete are wetted and the result is a gray paste, or slurry, which is flung in all directions, including upwardly. This gray slurry is particularly persistent and difficult to remove from clothing and/or anything else which it contacts. Because the hole is often drilled inside a building. which can be a home, it is therefore highly desirable to prevent having this gray slurry be flung against walls, carpet, draperies, and other home furnishings.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for containing the concrete cuttings and dust or slurry which results from cutting operations. In a broader sense, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for preventing the forceful expulsion of the cuttings which result from the drilling or cutting of any strata, where the strata can be concrete, rock, caliche, clay, or any other material in which a cutting element such as a blade or bit is used. Further, it is an object of the present invention to prevent the forceful expulsion of the slurry of concrete cuttings and dust that results when a blade or bit is cooled and/or lubricated with a liquid in such cutting operations.